 agent has denied claims that he was involved in the assassination of a Turkish Cypriot journalist in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1996, the Sözcü daily reported.){kind=link}
A former Turkish military officer and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) agent has denied claims that he was involved in the assassination of a Turkish Cypriot journalist in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) in 1996, the Sözcü daily reported.
Mafia boss Sedat Peker, who has been making shocking revelations about the murky relations between the mafia and Turkish state actors in videos he posts on YouTube, was the first to talk about Korkut Eken’s role in the murder of journalist Kutlu Adalı.
“Call me a liar if I knew that journalist. I had nothing to do with his murder,” said Eken.
In the latest video posted on Sunday, which was watched by more than 13 million people, Peker, in addition to making other bombshell allegations, said he tasked his brother Atilla Peker with killing Adalı upon a request from then-Interior Minister Ağar but that his brother was unable to carry out the murder, although Adalı was shot dead shortly afterward in July 1996.
He said Eken told them later that “another team” had killed the journalist.
Following Sedat Peker’s claims, Atilla Peker was briefly detained and according to a leaked copy of his written testimony to a prosecutor, he confirmed his brother’s allegations about the Adalı murder and admitted to having been on a mission to the KKTC along with Eken to kill the journalist on Ağar’s orders.
Eker confirmed that he traveled to the KKTC with Atilla Peker but said the aim of his trip was to investigate activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.
He said he looked into reports that injured PKK militants were being treated in “southern Cyprus” and then sent to camps in Greece.
Adalı, who worked for the left-wing Yeni Düzen newspaper in Nicosia and wrote on corruption allegations involving Turkish authorities, was shot dead in front of his home. His killers have never been identified.
Adalı’s wife, İlkay Adalı, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) after the investigation in the KKTC failed to solve the case. On March 31, 2005 the rights court ruled that Ankara had not carried out an extensive and credible investigation into the murder and ordered it to pay 96,000 euros in damages.